Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Welcome back to
Italian Food, Wine & Travel (#ItalianFWT) for our 12th
month. Gosh, we have covered so many regions of Italy and are in
our 2nd half of the country. Last month we shared with
you our experiences in the region of Abruzzoand this month we take you to central Italy again, but to the
region of Umbria this time. Many folks say that Umbria is in
the shadows of Tuscany, but this week we're going to show you why
Umbria needs to be considered in it's own spotlight for all it's
beauty and what it offers to those that visit it.

Umbria is a
fertile, hilly region also known as the “green heart of Italy”.
It's the only region within Italy that is landlocked surrounded by
the regions of Tuscany, Lazio and the Marche. Even though it doesn't
have the sea influences as many of the other regions there is Lake
Trasimeno and Lake Bolsena within the region that create milder
microclimates.

Travel in Umbria

There are so many
great medieval towns worth visiting within Umbria and all known for
their own highlights. My last trip to Italy brought me back to
Umbria for my 2nd time to gawk at the Gothic Duomo in the
hilltop town of Orvieto and relax in the peacefulness of Assisi,
especially at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. To celebrate
the renaissance of Italy one must visit to the town of Urbino and the
Palazzo Ducale. For wine lovers there is not only the town of
Orvieto to visit, but also Torgiano and Montefalco. Other towns of
of note are Spoleto, Todi and Gubbio.

Duomo in Orvieto

Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Food of Umbria

Every region has
their own specialities and Umbria is known for a number of food
delights. One of it's best known gems are tartufo nero, black
truffles. They are a very distinct taste with their intense
aromatics and powerful flavors. Pork is very common throughout this
region as well, especially in the town of Norcia. Beans, including
lentils and farro, are most popular in the town of Castelluccio di
Norcia. To top it all off for my chocolate lovers one must visit the
chocolate festival in October in Perugia or year round you can make a
stop at at the Perugina factory for some fresh samples. It's a
calorie free tour of course!

Wines have been
produced in Umbria since the settlements of the Etruscans as well as
the Romans. If you enjoy white wine, Umbria is dominated by Orvieto.
These wines are named after the local town and are made primarily
from the grechetto and procanico, aka trebbiano, grapes. For red
wines, sangiovese and sagrantino
are the primary grapes and are well worth lots of recognition for
their power structure.

Here is a preview of our upcoming blogs on the region of Umbria:Vino Travels: Immersion in Umbrian wine with SagrantinoThe Palladian Traveler - Marcello's Big Fat Italian ChristeningOrna O'Reilly - Castelluccio di Norcia: On the Rooftop of the ApenninesCulinary Adventures with Camilla - Roasted Flank Steak with Zucchini Mint Pesto with an Umbrian MerlotItalophilia - Visiting Assisi in the Enchanting Umbrian HillsFlavourful Tuscany - Umbrian Cuisine and Fun FactsRockin Red Blog - Beauty and the BeastEnofylz Wine Blog - Umbria's Sagrantino: Call It a ComebackFood Wine Click - Orange is the New Red: Paolo Bea Santa Chiara & Umbrian Steak on FoodWineClickThe Wining Hour - Taste Umbria - Black Truffle Linguini with Shrimp & Montefalco Sagrantino Cooking Chat Food - Rigatoni with Collard Greens & Sausage with Wine from UmbriaJoin us this Saturday October 3rd at 11am EST on twitter at #ItalianFWT to share your experiences with Umbria. There is still time to join our group as well so shoot me an email at vinotravels at hotmail dot com.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

This past weekend
I broke out again of the Italian wine shell and ventured into the
world of Spanish wine celebrating Garnacha Day that falls on the
third weekend of September annually. Wine bloggers, wine lovers and
sommeliers all over the world participated in a number of different
events and online chats via #GarnachaDay. I had the honor and
privilege to receive 5 different kinds of garnacha from Snooth and
attend a live
virtual tasting hosted by Master Sommelier Laura Maniec and the
Best Spanish Sommelier of 2014, Guillermo Cruz. Laura is the owner
of Corkbuzz and Guillermo is a
sommelier at one of the top 6 restaurants in the world, Mugaritz in
San Sebastian, Spain.

Garnacha Day with Snooth

Get ready for your
palates to salivate as we not only talk about the wines of the
tastings, but I included some suggestions of those on the live chat
to consider.

Here are the wines
that we sampled at the virtual tasting. Luckily I enjoyed them
throughout the weekend because God knows I can't throw back 5 bottles
in a night.

What seemed to be
the favorite of the night for myself and others was the final wine,
the 2010 Secastilla. Saved the best for last right? The 2013 Coto
de Hayas was my runner up. For value you can't go wrong with some of
the other wines at that price point.

Selection of the night

2nd runner up

How does garnacha relate to Italian
grapes?

Even though we're
talking about garnacha from Spain there is a connection to Italian
wine. Garnacha is the same as the grape in Italy known as cannonau
and also in France as the grape grenache. Within Italy it's most
commonly grown on the island of Sardinia. Why so many different
names? There are many clones of grape varieties throughout the world
and even within Italy you'll find the same grape known under
different names within different regions. The grape nebbiolo in
Piedmont is known as spanna in the northern part of the region.
Trebbiano, the most commmon white grape throughout Italy is also
known as procanico in Umbria. The list goes on. What makes these
grapes different from country to country is the terroir. This
includes the soil, climate, topography, etc. According to Guillermo,
Sardinia and Corsica are great places for this grape to show its best
expression outside of Spain.

Have you had
Garnacha or maybe any of its clones throughout the world?

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A blogging friend of mine, Valerie from
Girls Gotta Drink,
that I finally got to meet in person in Verona earlier this year in
February, is building her business in Piedmont. She not only does
wine tours in Piedmont, but is representing wineries and promoting
their products and building their brands and presence throughout the
world. I was honored to receive some samples of the Azienda
Agricola Demariewinery located in the Piedmont region.

The Demarie winery, owner by Paolo Demarie, is located in Vezza d'Alba, which is part of
the Roero district. Their vineyards are spread out across 20
hectacres (50 acres) in the towns of Vezza, Guarene, Castellinaldo
and Castagnito. The Demarie winery is run by 3 generations.

Paolo, owner of Azienda Agricola Demarie, by Valerie Quintinilla

Luckily many of the wines I received
were focused on the nebbiolo grape, one of my favorites. I
have more to share in the upcoming months, but today wanted to
highlight two of the Demarie nebbiolo wines and do a comparison of
them:

2013 Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo

2012 Demarie Nebbiolo d'Alba

As you all know terroir is one of the major factors in the result
of a final wine in addition to the choices made by a winemaker inside
the production facilities when it comes to fermentation and aging
methods. Piedmont is one of those regions in Italy where terroir is
so important, especially in the cru sites of Barolo and Barbaresco,
as it produces many different styles of nebbiolo. Nebbiolo expresses
itself throughout the rest of Piedmont in many different styles.
These two wines are from the Langhe
DOC and Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC. The Langhe DOCThe Langhe DOC encompasses the areas north and south of the town
of Alba. Many grape varieties are produced in this area and it's
considered the fallback DOC of the DOCG of Barolo, Barbaresco and
Roero. Therefore, producers that label with the DOC have less
stringent regulations and more flexibility.
The Nebbiolo d'Alba DOCThe Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC on the other hand must be made of 100%
nebbiolo. This is a much more affordable wine with many of the
typical characteristics of nebbiolo. It's aged only a year in
comparison to the DOCG versions aged 2+ years depending upon which
DOCG we are talking about. If you've never had a nebbiolo grape this
would be a good place to start to experience it before moving on to
the some of the big boys of the region.\

2012 Demarie Nebbiolo d'AlbaMade of 100% nebbiolo
grapes. This wine goes through malolactic fermentation in large slavonian
oak casks for 8 months followed by 8 months in the bottle. Deeper
ruby red in color with a hint of licorice on the nose. A medium body
with dark fruit with more present tannin and balanced acidity. It's
recommended by Demarie to be aged up to 5 years. ABV 14.5%.2013 Demarie Langhe NebbioloMade of 100% nebbiolo grapes. A brilliant ruby red, it's a medium
bodied wine with juicy red fruit and a mouthwatering acidity. Drying tannin on the finish. A more delicate wine compared to the Nebbiolo d'Alba. Wine pairing with Nebbiolo

From time to time I will write about
wines to pair with your meals, but I just as much enjoy sitting there
with a bottle of wine and enjoying some delicious appetizers. And of
course I'll always look up regional foods to pair with the bottle of
wine that I choose to drink that night. Cured meats are
always a great pairing in Italy with many of the reds so I chose
salami as one of the appetizers that paired well with the 2013
Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo.

I found the Langhe Nebbiolo much more
approachable in its youth. The other dish I prepared was bruschetta
topped with gorgonzola and walnuts drizzled with honey. Very
typical ingredients of the region and paired well with the 2012
Demarie Nebbiolo d'Alba. The Nebbiolo d'Alba's tannins were very
present in the wine and I felt the creaminess of the gorgonzola
helped to cut through some of that.

It's all about playing around with
pairings and finding what you like. I hope you get to sample
nebbiolo for yourself if you haven't yet. If you have, what are some
of your favorite areas of Piedmont for nebbiolo and any favorite
pairings?

Sunday, September 13, 2015

I'm participating in my 1st monthly wine writing challenge (#MWWC19). This is a monthly challenge put
on by the Drunken Cyclist where a theme of the month is selected by the previous month's winner and wine writers interpret that
theme in their own style. It's purpose is to get wine writers to
challenge themselves and be more creative. As wine writers we're always writing
about winery visits, wine tastings, meetings with winemakers, etc.
that it's good to force us to think outside the box and focus on the
writing itself. This month is the 19th challengeand the theme of this month is choice, selected by last month's winner, Elizabeth of Traveling Wine Chick.

We all make many choices in life that
can take us in all different directions. You may have hit a point in
your life wondering if you made a different choice at a crossroads how different your life would've been if you chose the other path. My journey
and choices through the wine world have led me so far to where I am
today and it's been a whirlwind of a ride. I never would've thought
that I'd be a wine blogger and some days I ask myself why I got into
this when I work a fulltime job and spend the nights writing and
building relationships, but in the end I'm grateful for the
opportunity it has presented and made me a better person.

My
beginning in the wine industry

After living in Italy for a short
period of time 14 years ago this month, wow how time flies, it opened
my eyes to the wine world. I further was intrigued as I began making
annual trips to the Finger Lakes wine region in upstate New York
introduced to me by one of my good friends that used to work for the
Fox Run Vineyards. I was curious about what it was to work in the wine
industry at that point, but not being local to a wine region living in the Boston area I figured the best way to immerse myself in
the business, while still holding down my career, was
to chose to work at a retail wine shop part time. This way I was surrounded by
wine, talking about it, drinking it and establishing contacts within
the industry.

My husband and I at the Finger Lakes

I worked in wine retail part-time for 5
years until I bought my first home and moved further away. I tried
to continue to study the Italian language and the world of wine and I
was completely overwhelmed. Plus, I was not doing each one to my
full potential. I chose to take some Italian classes for about 4-5
years and focus on that for the time instead. Still practicing to this
day as it's a never ending process, I felt it was time to get
reimmersed in the wine industry. This is when my blog, Vino
Travels, began. Shortly after I started my blog I even gave
selling wine part-time for an Italian wine importer a chance, but
there are a whole set of reasons why that wasn't the path that I
wanted to go.

I felt that if I started a blog it
would force me to read and research wine continuously every week. Boy I didn't know what I was getting into. I started
just writing about wines I was trying that I really enjoyed, so if you
look back through my very first blogs you'll see blogs about wines
from all over the world, but I felt that I still was trying to take
on too much all at once. I sat down and figured I needed to make a
choice about the direction that I wanted to head towards and what the
goals of my blog were really going to be.

My travels through Piedmont

Why an
Italian wine blog?

I had been to Italy a multitude of
times, had been to many regions, understood the language and probably
had the best understanding of Italian wine. Plus, being of Italian
heritage and meeting so many great winemakers throughout Italy I
wanted to tell their story and open the eyes of wine drinkers around
the world that wine life isn't all about cabernet sauvignon,
chardonnay and merlot. What better focus for me than on Italian
wines. I had so many stories to tell of all the winemakers I had
met, my favorite grapes and wines I tasted along the way. And so
Vino Travels was born and is in it's 2nd year. I'm
grateful for the opportunities that have come my way and the
connections I have made around the world. I'm also excited about
what tomorrow brings and I still feel that there is more to come with
my future in the world of wine. It was the best choice I've made to
this day.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

I'm thrilled that this month's Wine
Pairing Weekend (#winepw) is featuring wines that are grown on
volcanic soil. There are wines grown all over in Italy that grow
grapes on volcanic soil including the regions of Campania, Basilicata
and Lazio, but one of the best known regions for volcanic soil is
Sicily. Home to Sicily's active volcano, Mt. Etna,
it's one of the tallest in Europe standing at 10,890 feet. So when
introduced to the topic this month I immediately had the perfect
story and wine to share as I recently met Giovanni La Fauci
from the Giovi winery in Sicily that is producing wines on Mt.
Etna.

The La Fauci family. Right to left: Mariella, myself, Giovanni and Giuseppe

Giovanni is the owner and winemaker and
was accompanied by his lovely wife Mariella and son Giuseppe. This
was their first visit to Boston and he shared one of his wines at a
wine tasting, degustazione, at a local Italian wine shop, Vino
Italiano, that I've written about for my wine column in the
Bostoniano, “Italy Uncorked”. The one thing I can say from
meeting Giovanni is #1 make sure you know Italian as I got to test
out my skills from our conversation and #2 is if you have passion
for something it will carry you through life with much pleasure and
satisfaction. Giovanni's outgoing personality and strong enthusiasm
when talking about his wines and the growing of grapes on Mt. Etna
was very apparent. Even if you were on the other side of the room
you could tell from his body language and flailing arms how
passionate he is about what he does. After all, Italians do talk not
only with words, but with their hands and I can highly attest to that
myself.

Since 1987 Giovanni has been known for
his production of grappa at his distillery in Messina, Sicily.
Today, still involved in grappe production, he also now produces wine
sourcing it from different vineyard sites and selecting the grapes
for the production of his wines. Giovanni shared with me his Giovi
Akatron Etna Rosso, which is 100% made of the nerello mascalese
grape. Typically nerello mascalese is blended with nerello
cappuccio, but I always enjoy tasting a grape 100% in its true form
as it gives you a great sense of the specific characteristics to the
grape itself. Giovanni's grapes grow on about 75 year old vines. I
have to say that sadly I have yet to have many wines from Etna, but
they have been at the top of my list of wines to seek out and I was
very impressed with the Akatron. It was a powerful, robust wine that
demonstrated elegance combined with a pure expression of fruit.

How exactly does volcanic soil
influence wine?

One of the hottest regions in the
Italian wine world today, literally. Who would've thought that one
would grow grapes on the soil of a volcano, nevermind an active
volcano. One of its challenges are hand harvesting, which is time
consuming and expensive, but due to the altitude of where these
vineyards are situated it's the only option. So why grow wine on
volcanos? Volcanic nutrients within the soil are imparted through
the vines to the grapes creating minerality. Growing grapes at these
altitudes also provides a lot of fluctuations in temperatures from
day to night which is favorable to winemaking. The soil here is also
sandy, which has helped to prevent the disease of phylloxera from
entering this wine region and wiping out the rootstock as it did with
the rest of Europe so the vines here are very old producing more
mature grapes. I spoke more about this recently on my podcast with
Rick Zullo on an introduction to
Italian wines when we discussed Sicily.

Food pairing with Nerello Mascalese

Sicily's cuisine is rich in seafood as
well as lamb and an abundance of vegetables including one of my
favorites, eggplant. Thinking of the flavors in the Akatron I
gravitated to a very popular dish of Sicily, Pasta Alla Norma.
Pasta Alla Norma is a perfect dish if you're hosting any evening
with guests that include vegetarians, but is also pleasing for all
guests, especially lovers of eggplant since this is the main
ingredient in the dish. The name of the dish actually derives from a
famous opera by Bellini called Norma. Story has it that the famous
writer, Nino Martoglio, sampled this dish comparing it to Norma, and
hence originated the name of the dish. It's a very simple and
straightforward dish to prepare, but packed with flavor.

A very authentic Italian cookbook that
I have owned for years, Italy: The Beautiful Cookbook, I have never
really used much until writing Vino Travels and got involved in wine
and food pairings. It not only has very traditional foods of each
particular region throughout Italy, but the photos are eye catching.
The pasta alla norma dish that I prepared came from this recipe book
stated below with some small changes.

Add diced eggplant to prior
ingredients. You will probably need additional extra virgin olive
oil. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until
eggplant is tender.

Boil water and add pasta. Once
completed to designated time on the package add to the saute pan and
mix ingredients together.

Serve and top with fresh basil and
dollops of ricotta.

It doesn't matter ultimately whether
you check out the volcanic wines of Sicily , other regions within
Italy or the world, but to never have experienced volcanic wines
would be a shame. There is so much to learn when you sample wines
from different soils and the wines of Mt. Etna is a perfect
demonstration to what those characteristics are.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Earlier this week I provided a brief
overview of the Abruzzo region highlighting it's terrain, typical
food and wines. Today for our 11th #ItalianFWT event our
group of bloggers present to you our experiences through food, wine
and travel to this region.

Grapes of AbruzzoThe top grapes of this region including
the white grape, trebbiano d'abruzzo, also know as ugni blanc in
France. It's a high acid wine, without much flavor extracted and is
usually light and crisp with apple flavors. The rose' produced in
the region is known as cerasuolo d'abruzzo made of the montepulciano
grape that is a hearty rose' with notes of dried fruits and
strawberries. Above all dominating the region's well known wines are
montepulciano d'abruzzo. A late-ripening variety it's deep colored,
plump, low acid and an accessible wine in its youth. About two
thirds of the production comes out of the Chieti province.

Abruzzo wine region map copyright of Federdoc

The 1 DOCG of AbruzzoThere is plenty of everyday
montepulciano produced under the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC that can be simple and juicy depending upon the producer, but if you're looking for some of the top quality
montepulciano of this region seek out the 1 DOCG known as
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane in the north. It was
granted this status to differentiate itself from the rest in 2002.

The Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from the Colline Teramane DOCG requires 90% montepulciano and 10% sangiovese. The regular Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from this DOCG is required to be aged 2 years where the riserva has an extra year at 3 years.To learn more about the wines from this DOCG check out the Consorzio di Tutela Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane site.

I'm sharing with you a wine from the
producer, Cerelli Spinozzi, whom is located close to the Gran Sasso
mountains. It's their 2009 Tenuta Cerelli Spinozzi Torre Migliori
Montepucliano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG. According to Banfi
Wines, “Cerulli owns 10% of the DOCG's 100 hectacres” and the
Torre Migliori comes from this specific area. This wine is made
100% from the montepulciano grape.

About Tenuta Cerelli SpinozziTenuta Cerelli Spinozzi is a joint
venture of two families, Cerelli Irelli and Spinozzi. The winery was
started by the two Cerelli Irelli brothers, Francesco and Vincenzo,
in 2003 and is today run by Enrico, the son of Vicenzo. His approach
to winemaking and running the winery today consists of replanting the
vines, while tending to some of the 30 year old vines at low yields
to produce higher quality grapes. He has enabled the consulting wine
expertise of famous consultant, Franco Bernabei.

Organic in their winemaking, Tenute
Cerelli Spinozzi produces wines made from the montepulciano,
pecorino, trebbiano and chardonnay grapes. Their two vineyard sites
are located in Canzano and Mosciano with about 50 acres in total
situated near the Gran Sasso mountains. The Abruzzo region is mostly
dominated by co-ops by about 85% and Enrico's grandfather is known
for being the founder of Casal Thaulero, one of the large
cooperatives in Abruzzo.

I hope you get to experience the
quality montepulciano grape from the Teramane area so you can
decipher the major difference between your everyday montepulciano and
those of the DOCG.

Follow along the Abruzzo journey with my other Abruzzi fans and make sure to join us next month on October 3rd as we will be covering the region of Umbria. You can also chat with us live this Saturday morning 9/5 at 11am EST on Twitter at #ItalianFWT. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

This month for our 11th
#ItalianFWT (Italian food, wine and travel) group we feature the
region of Abruzzo. Abruzzo is a rather central region in
Italy surrounded by Le Marche to the north, Lazio to the west, Molise
to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the east. The Apennine mountain
chain that runs throughout Italy from north to south, culminates here
at the highest peak, the Corno Grande in the Gran Sasso. Its
rugged beauty dominates the region and is perfect for the lovers of
outdoors activities.

According to Vino Italiano by Joseph
Bastianich, Abruzzo's “annual wine output is almost double that of
Tuscany even though Tuscany has nearly twice as much vineyard area.”
It's one of the top 5 wine producing regions by volume. It's most
notable grapes for whites are trebbiano d'abruzzo, for reds
montepulciano d'abruzzo and for rose' cerasuolo d'abruzzo.

The cuisine of this region is mostly
mountainous rich with sheep and lamb so much of the cuisine is
focused on meats including many variations of lamb, sausage and
salumi. If you've ever heard of the pasta, spaghetti alla
chitarra, it is associated mostly with the Abruzzo region. The
region offers us spices such as saffron, zafferano,
and those sugar covered almonds that we love served at weddings known
as confetti di Sulmona.

Our group has lots to share with you
from our travel to this region along with our love of food and/or
wine. So come back this Saturday to read our personal journeys through
Abruzzo and join us for an online live Twitter chat at #ItalianFWT at
11am EST and tell us about your travel experiences, favorite
places and/or some of your favorite wines or food from Abruzzo. Here
is a preview of what is to come: